Here is a preview of the future, as machines do the intellectual work of humans in a fraction of the time. It took me about 3 minutes to put together the following video, using an incredible web application called animoto.com
Here are four video’s I recorded last Friday night at the Parc Des Princes in Paris. Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band put on a great performance. As one of my teenage sons observed afterwards “That was quite the show!”
First, the highlight of the show. Bruce plays solo piano for the first time since 2003, rendering a moving performance of “For You”, a 1973 classic filled with regret and longing. “It’s not your lungs this time, it’s your heart that holds your fate.” Just before the song, Bruce told the crowd “pour vous Paris” translation - “For You Paris.” I did not film the whole song as I had limited battery available and it was too hard to concentrate on the music while recording.
Janey Don’t You Lose Heart - a rare performance early in the concert.
With darkness descending on Paris, the stage lighting adds to the atmosphere as the band starts the encore with “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” from the Magic CD.
The intro to 10th Avenue Freeze Out - “ooooh, oooh, oooh..!”
I just finished recording and publishing my first podcast on Gcast. It’s a very easy to use system. Just call the Gcast number, podcast into your phone, then hit the # button and publish your podcast. If you have a blog you can add a flash widget to your sidebar and the podcast will be available to your readers. The quality is not bad and it’s simplicity invites use. Thanks Vicki Davis at Cool Cat Teacher Blog for the idea. Vicki has been podcasting for several months using Gcast and is very good at it.
Note: This was originally posted at School_Talk, my early and short-lived attempt at a professional development blog. Surprisingly, the overall content of the presentation has held-up well over time.
The PowerPoint presentation from the August 28, 2005 professional development meeting can be downloaded here.
Mr. Marcos & his students at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, CA have the right idea here. Empower the students to teach the world what they have learned about fractions, decimals, exponential notation and algebra. Very impressive. I registered at the site and would love to have some of my students contribute next year. Mathtrain.tv is the address. Here is a promo designed and performed by Mr. Marcos’s sixth grade students.
Student Promo for Mathtrain.tv
Here is my one of my favorite math topics, division by fractions, as taught by “Phillip”, a sixth grader.
Dividing by Fractions
Cherrie at Cherrieland has an interesting read on the shifting definition of hardwork. I especially like her observation that the effort going into any project is related to it’s state of completion.
"Going from 0 to 50% complete is often much easier than going from 90 to 100% complete. Or in other words, the effort you need to put in to complete 50% of a project is probably ten times less (or even smaller) than the effort you have to put in to complete the last 5%." "
I agree this is often the case, but would add that going from 0 to 5% is often more difficult than going from 5% to 50%. To make a construction analogy, your writing project is like excavating and leveling the ground around a new building. Going from 5% to 50% is easy, the goal is known and the blade is high, moving large quantities of dirt in cuts and fills. It’s much slower going during the second half, as you carefully grade the soil to assure the correct finished elevations are achieved. To further tie into Cherrie’s theory, if you don’t get the final 5% exactly right, nobody will really notice…until it rains. Oh, and the first 5%, often that’s like trying to start the bulldozer on a cold winter morning. Lots of false starts before the first bucketful is scooped.
Just starting to write again after a year long blogging break.
One of my most memorable trips over the past few years was a visit to China in late 2005. Here is a diary entry originally published on November 23, 2005 over at my classroom blog Room 613 Talk. If you visit Shangdong province I recommend stopping by Quancheng Square in the evening. Great atmosphere and a family friendly environment.
My Video of Quancheng Square, Jinan, China
Jinan on a Friday night reminds me of New York’s Times Square on New Year’s Eve, without the confetti, streamers and noisemakers. A colored fountain, tens of thousands of people, people hanging over the gate balconies, a roller-blading contest for children. Everyone moves at a relaxed, steady pace and appears happy. Boy’s and girl’s, men and women, parents and children, couples and singles mingle here. People sit around a lotus fountain, the lotus being one of Jinan’s symbols. It’s Trevi fountain times ten with a family bent. I keep walking, trying to stay together with our group of seven, but its hard to do. No fear. We are the only westerners in a crowd of tens of thousands of Chinese, but do not feel observed or uncomfortable in any way. Trees with white Christmas lights line both sides of this mammoth open space, and fountains run longitudinally, bordering the main space. The cascading red and blue-lit water of the lotus fountain stops, collapsing into a still pool. The long side fountains start, and children laugh and run as they are caught on the bridge beneath the pulsating streams. Everyone laughs.
It’s crowded by western standards, but everyone moves at a steady pace, and no one collides, in a pattern similar to the downtown traffic witnessed earlier. We are drawn like moths to a flame into the center of the space, where a soaring steel sculpture stands defiantly, metallic blue against the black early evening sky. How can I get a photo of this, too high to capture in a horizontal shot, it’s bigger than life, and I turn the camera in a futile attempt to capture the scene. If this object was in the U.S. or Europe it would be world famous, but it’s here, and is an object of only local knowledge. It’s time for me to spread this local knowledge a bit, and add it to the distributed network of information available to those fortunate enough to connect. There’s nothing like enjoying your surroundings and finding a bigger purpose at the same time.
We head down the steps to a lower level mall, stopping in front of a McDonald’s. The sign in front advertises some sort of fish or pork sandwich creation for 12 Yuan, that about a $1.40 US. Peering in, it seems clean and fairly crowded. The group agrees to split up and meet again in a half hour, and I venture inside a jewelry store. I walk through the store but find nothing of interest. It’s ok, but prices are higher than those at the Silk Market back in Beijing. The jewelry store morphs into a Target type retail center, and I continue my stroll, moving to the right and walk down an aisle that goes on forever. Department after department of men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing roll by on both sides of the walk aisle; Coats, sweaters, shoes, handbags in a never-ending stretch of practicality. The crowd squeezes in on me as I walk, a dense, but relaxed and happy pack of Chinese everyman engaged in their Friday night shopping. The crowd around me is quietly social. I could be lost here, inside this underground retail cave. I know that “outside” is above and somewhere to the right, I think. I turn right and head for an electronics store, beckoned by a display of music and video CD’s. I make my purchase, a 2-CD set of Chinese Folksongs, and start the transaction. I’ve been exposed to the system once, and take my chance, hoping that verbal interactions will not be needed. The floor salesperson smiles and writes up my ticket, then holds my purchase while I venture to the cashier booth on the other side of the store. A marginally disinterested clerk takes my ticket and Chinese money and hands back change and the receipt, all without speaking. That’s fine with me. I return to the music section to find the salesgirl waiting with the CD ready for me. How does she remember who made the purchase and what was bought? I marvel at the social aspect of the transaction. Purchase in hand, I realize I’m late for the rendezvous with the rest of the group, and scurry around the mall searching for an exit. After a number of failed attempts, I finally find a ramp, made for autos not pedestrians, and climb back to the surface to this magnificent open space at the center of Jinan.
Places on the globe I’ve visited over the past 30 years.
Blogs, Wikis and Podcast Workshop - November 9, 2006
Professional Development Presentation Notes - Mike Hetherington
Blogs
Last year’s class blog. 6th grade Room 613 Student Blogs - 2005-2006 - an example of a group blog. All students post to one class site. Students can comment on each others blog posts. Each student has their own category, but not their own blog.
This year’s class blog site 6th grade Room 613 Student Blogs - 2006-2007 - Just started Monday 11-6. One homeroom set up so far, the remaining 3 will be set up over the next few weeks. Each student has their own blog, while teacher has administrative control over all posts. All comments moderated prior to publishing. Can view all blog posts using a PageFlakes page.
Other Student Blogs
Priestsic6 - A middle school blog
World Literature 4/5 - a high school blog
Recommended Educator Websites -
Stephen’s Web OLDaily - Stephen Downes
Two Cents Worth - David Warlick
Cool Cat Teacher Blog - Vicky Davis
Random Thoughts - Nancy McKeand
Benefits of Student Blogging
Detailed Instructions - how to set up a group blog for your classroom using learnerblogs.org.
Getting Started -
Visit Edublogs.org and set up your own blog. Use your school email address so you can access your blog password
Go to Presentation and change the look of your blog.
Go to the Write tab and make a post. It can be on any topic you choose. Hyperlink to at least one site or picture.
Visit another new teacher new blog and leave a comment on their post.
Link to another new teacher blog in your blogs sidebar. Do this in the Manage Links Catagory.
You can also go back to the main edublogs page and watch some of the tutorials ( blog posts and editing your sidebar are both helpful for the beginner.)
If you have extra time and would like to start to set up a classroom site, go to Learnerblogs.com and get started.
If for some reason edublogs and learnerblogs are not available, make a blog at Blogger.com
WIKI"S
Visit Wikipedia - the grandest wiki of them all! Click on a few links and look around.
Visit some of the wiki’s I am using in the classroom this year.
Parent Conference Sign-up form
A study guide generated by my 6th grade students (this was all work done from home.)
The 6th Grade Social Studies Curriculum (in progress.)
Getting started:
Go to Wikispaces.com, register, and make a wiki space for yourself or your team.
Add some information and link it back to your blog address.
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PODCASTING
Fun to use in the classroom. Podcast from Room 613 (last year’s class.) Many other student podcasts
Has more complicated technical issues compared to blogs and wikis.
Use handheld recorder or the laptop to record
Download Audacity for free as your sound mixing program. Audacity.com
Get podsafe music from free music sites.
Upload voice and sound files into Audacity and mix, edit, etc.
Save entire file as an mp3. You will have to upload the LAME mp3 encoder to do this in Audacity.
Upload to a server space, such as Bluehost.com and then link to that file from your blog.
For more details see an excellent explaination of Podcasting from Maple Grove Primary School
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You can visit here for more interesting Web 2.0 links
November 10th, 2006
30 Boxes - http://www.30boxes.com
Create an on-line calendar and to do list. You can tag your to do list and also share calendars. Try out the sample calendar.
del.icio.us - http://del.icio.us.
Access your bookmarks from any computer. Organize, tag and share your bookmarks.
GuruLib - http://www.gurulib.com An awesome way to keep an on-line book list. Go to this site and check out the sample bookshelf.
Flickr.com - on-line photo sharing site.
BubbleShare - http://www.bubbleshare.com A great way to share your digital photos on-line in a slideshow presentation.
Pandora.com - http://pandora.com Listen to your favorite music, generated by the music Genome project. Try Springsteen or Sinatra for starters.
http://wikispaces.com - Free wikispaces for educators. You are reading a wikispace. Click on the take a tour link. Wiki’s are a quick and easy way to create web pages that can be accessed and edited by multiple users. See some ways I’m using wikis in Room 613 :
Parent conference sign-up form - http://613signup.wikispaces.com
Student generated study guide - http://studentguide1.wikispaces.com
Curriculum links - http://hwpsocialstudies.wikispaces.com
Digg - http://digg.com Read, submit and vote on today’s most popular news stories.
YouTube - http://youtube.com - Video uploads from around the world.
Diigo.com - http://www.diigo.com - another social bookmarking site. This one is similar to del.icio.us but also allows you to highlight and bookmark specific passages from your favorite sites.
Pageflakes - http://www.pageflakes.com Click on "make a new site" for a sample of how this works. Pageflake allows you to add constantly changing content to your own site. By aggregating RSS feeds, pageflakes allows you to read the latest material coming from your favorite sites. Anytime something new is posted to the selected sites it will appear in your Pageflakes aggregator. Note - I use this to keep track of posts from multiple student blogs.
GMail - http://gmail.google.com - Google’s free webmail service. Almost unlimited storage capacity and great search capabilities.
Google SketchUp - http://sketchup.google.com A free download. Lots of fun. Allows you to draw in three dimensions.
Blog Providers:
http://edublogs.org Free wordpress blogs for educators
http://learnerblogs.org Free wordpress blogs for students
http://blogger.com Free blogs from Google
Examples of classroom blogs;
This year’s Room 613 Student Blogs page - http://hetherington0607.learnerblogs.org
Last year’s Room 613 Student Blogs page - http://hetherington.learnerblogs.org
Detailed instructions for setting up a classroom blog similar to last years blog (a group blog.)
August 24th, 2006
Today I presented two sessions of "Blogging and Web 2.0" to groups of colleagues as part of our professional development "Technology Day." Here is the outline used for both presentations, which were very well received.
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Room 613 Talk - http://room613talk05.edublogs.org. - Edublogs site - Teacher and Student posts by teacher. We used this space from August 2005 to January 2006
Room 613 Student Blogs - http://hetherington.learnerblogs.org - Room 613 goes more student centered. All posts and comments still fully moderated by the teacher, but written and submitted by my 75 - sixth grade students.
Rules for Blogging - guidelines for students - Lots of latitude here. It’s a wide highway, just stay between the guard rails.
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Some of the best posts from Room 613 Student Blogs. This is but a small sample of some outstanding student work.
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SS Assignments
Turkish letter to friend in America on death of Kemal Ataturk
History of India (various subjects including M.Gandhi)
What did I learn from this… a student’s perspective from Eric
A comment for the students from one of our parents
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At least 50% of our posts were voluntary, here are some examples of students writing, learning and teaching in a a variety of topic areas.
Play reviews for The Giver (field trip to East Hartford H.S.)
Sara’s work - some very creative posts from our most prolific writer
My Trip to the L.O.B. - The students summarize their trip to the legislative office building in Hartford where they presented blogging and podcasting.
Comments to our student posts from around the world:
http://hetherington.learnerblogs.org/2006/01/24/australia-2/#comment-1809
Sixth grader AnnB’s essay evokes tears of pride from a reader halfway around the world.
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How to make a student group blog like Room 613 Student Blogs using learnerblogs - see specific instructions on this page.
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MHetherington.net - http://mhetherington.net/blogs
See sidebar on this page for recommended educational bloggers
How to start - make a blog for yourself and see how it all works. Also, read some of the blogs shown in the sidebar to get a feel for how people create blog posts, topics, and reflections.
Edublogs - free Wordpress (like this site and Room 613) blogs for educators. http://edublogs.org - easy to set-up - 5 mins max. Instructions are at the site for beginners and veteran bloggers.
Learnerblogs - free Wordpress blogs (from the author of edublogs) for use by students http://learnerblogs.org - easy to set-up and can be fully moderated by the teacher
Blogger - free, also easy to set-up - http://www.blogger.com Next blog button can be an issue if using with students
Optional Assignment - make an edublog blog for yourself and publish your first post by answering the following - How can blogs be used in education? Post a link back to this page - http://mhetherington.net/blogs and I will also link to yours. Good Luck.
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Some other topics in Web 2.0
Flickr - store, tag and share your photo’s on-line
Wikipedia - on-line open source encyclopedia
Del.icio.us - save and tag your favorite websites on-line
Bloglines - A web-based personal news aggregator. This is where your can follow the latest post from your favorite sites and blogs.
Podcasting - an example - The Room 613 Panther Podcast
If last summer was the summer for early adoption of blog and podcast tools, in the web 2.0 world, this is the summer of voice messaging, skypecasting and video production. Three dimensional worlds such as Second Life are also gaining momentum, as the pace of change accelerates and just recent innovations such as music on IPODS, static web pages and discussion boards look very 2004.
Wagner James Au over at New World Notes points out an entertaining YouTube video, "Suzanne’s Guitar" which depicts the fast-forwarded step by step construction of a Second Life virtual guitar designed for Suzanne Vega. RobbieDingo, the creator of the guitar machinima, also authored a dramatic video, where actors play upon a three dimensional stage in Second Life. Have a look at the two videos. The first will stimulate your brain and the second may touch your heart.
